Henry Fox Talbot
1851, 19 June
Note on Instantaneous Photographic Images

Magazine article
5 3/4 x 8 1/2 in.
 
Archive Farms
The Patrick Montgomery Collection, Object No. 2016.1115b
 
4. "Note on instantaneous Photographic Images." By H. F. Talbot, Esq., F.R.S. &c.
 
"Having recently met with a photographic process of great sensibility, I was desirous of trying whether it were possible to obtain a truly instantaneous representation of an object in motion. The experiment was conducted in the following manner. A printed paper was fixed upon a circular disc, which was then made to revolve on its axis as rapidly as possible. When it had attained its greatest velocity, an electric battery, kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. Faraday, was discharged in front of the disc, lighting it up with a momentary flash. A camera containing a very sensitive plate of glass had been placed in a suitable position, and on opening this after the discharge, an image was found of a portion of the words printed on the paper. They were perfectly well-defined and wholly unaffected by the motion of the disc."
 
"As I am not aware that this experiment has ever succeeded, or indeed been tried, previously, I have thought it incumbent on me to lay an early account of it before the Royal Society."
 
LL/131163